Solar November 2025 - Update #3
Core 5.0 Testnet – 90% Completion
This week pushed the new Core 5.0 architecture into its final stretch. The remaining work is now focused on stabilizing the integration layers, refining block producer logic, and validating the complete 5-producer network under realistic load and timing conditions.
Core Progress This Week
1. Consensus Layer Stability
We resolved multiple coordination issues between proposer rotation, block timing, and state persistence. The network now continues producing blocks even when a scheduled block producer falls outside its expected timing window.
Key improvements:
- Extended proposer window tolerance
- Deterministic fallback when a producer misses its slot
- Coordinated startup sequence ensuring all producers initialize correctly
- Stable block generation from the first genesis slot onward
Consensus is now resilient under normal and edge-case operating conditions.
2. Node Architecture & Deployment
The architecture separating consensus duties from transaction submission is now established. This separation is essential for production-level throughput.
Major improvements:
- Dedicated RPC/API nodes decoupled from block-producing nodes
- Unified network-runner configuration with proper bootstrapping
- Future-relative genesis timestamps for deterministic chain initialization
- Improved logging across every producer for accurate state inspection
This finalizes the deployment model for both development and mainnet environments.
3. Transaction Flow & Propagation
We refined how transactions move through the system, especially under load or when a block producer is not the current proposer.
Progress includes:
- Eliminated blocking behavior when non-proposers received RPC submissions
- Stable mempool synchronization across all block producers
- RPC responses remain reliable during active consensus rounds
- Network progress is fully independent of RPC node delays
The transaction pipeline now behaves predictably across all nodes.
4. Block Producer Set & Identity Management
The 5–block producer architecture is nearly finalized and functioning the way a production chain requires.
Key achievements:
- Full BLS proof-of-possession and identity verification
- Deterministic proposer rotation ensuring fair block distribution
- Correct integration between execution-level storage and consensus state
- Stable storage mapping for genesis and runtime producer votes
This gives us a fully deterministic and secure producer set.
5. Key Discoveries
Several important architectural patterns were uncovered this week:
- Lookahead boundaries were the cause of previous stalling; now resolved
- State persistence needs tight alignment with finality timing
- Mempool synchronization is critical across distributed producers
- Network-runner’s gRPC gateway is the ideal access point for dev/test environments
- Genesis order directly affects proposer readiness and must be handled precisely
Each discovery contributed to stabilizing Core 5.0.
Status: 90% Complete
Core 5.0 is entering its final phase. Remaining tasks:
- Final integration tests
- Stress testing under high load
- Final RPC performance tuning
- Adjustments to proposer window parameters
- Documentation pass and packaging for public release
The architecture is now consistent, stable, and behaving exactly as intended.
Summary
November Update #3 marks one of the strongest weeks yet for Core 5.0. The block producer architecture, consensus behavior, transaction flow, and deployment model are now aligned and functioning cohesively. All major blockers have been resolved. Only final refinements and stress tests remain.
The next-generation Solar chain is almost ready. Final 10% is underway.